What's a Day Off?

Today I awoke to Aliza calling to me from my bedroom door.  I was pretty groggy (going to bed at midnight wasn't treating me well), but I recognized the word TICK.  That got my attention, so I pulled Steve out of bed with me and we went to the bathroom to investigate.  Sure enough, a little tick was attached to her stomach.  I was so thankful Steve was around for this!  My tick inexperience could've stumped us, but instead Steve pulled out tweezers and took care of it.  No big deal.  Aliza went around the rest of the morning minus a shirt, paranoid and complaining about how much it hurt.  By the afternoon I think she forgot about it completely.  Good!

The rest of the morning was spent piano-practicing and cake pop-making.  It was my test run for Gracie's party.  I had promised them but didn't know what I was getting into, so decided that practice was in order.  All of the bakers online had run into snags making them, so I was tenative.  But it was a piece of cake (yeah, I'm cheesy!) and all my tutorials paid off.  30 cake pops later, and feeling like I wanted to puke at the word cake pop, they were finished!  I think Gavin ate about 10 throughout the day, plus a piece of the cake I didn't use to make the cake pops.  Gage came in at about 3 plus cake, Aliza only 1 lonely one, and Grace 3 cake pops and two slices of cake (that I was able to catch).  I think I'm gonna forget about cake pops for a week or two.  Ugh.  But they were sure cute.

Other notable Columbus Day happenings:

Aliza, Grace, and Gavin went around the neighborhood asking if people would pay them $10 to rake their leaves.  The first door said yes and had them raking/fighting/getting splinters for 3 hours while Gage napped.  Loved it!  But one house was all they had energy for.

Drove Steve to the airport with kids in tow.  He's off to Florida (I'm soo jealous!) for a manager's training during the entire week.  Gage was pouty the entire drive and cried when we drove away without him.

I finished designing and printing Grace's birthday invitations.  Searched the half-unpacked basement for ric rac, but then ended up organizing instead.  No ric rac.  Off to Walmart for ric rac and spray paint (refinishing a nightstand) tomorrow!